Email marketing means more than just sending out mass emails to everyone who has ever bought something from your business. A properly conducted email marketing campaign can be complicated to put together, but if you know what you are doing, the rewards can be great. Read on to find out how to do so.
Only use email marketing to target people who have give you permission to contact them. If you mail unknown recipients, your email may be perceived as spam. If you show up as a stranger in their inboxes, they will have no idea if they want to hear what you have to say. Most of the time, sending unsolicited mail is just deleted, or worse, reported. Neither of these outcomes are good for your business.
To keep your email recipients engaged, use various sequences for different types of readers. For example, if you get an email address from a sale, that customer should receive a very distinctive welcoming email than a reader whose email you received from a lead. If readers aren’t getting what they want from emails, then they simply won’t read them.
In order to ensure that every single customer on your list has given their permission for you to email them, you should have customers opt-in to your list twice before you send the first email. This may appear like an unnecessary extra feature, but this can, in fact, ensure that only those who sign up who are genuinely interested and this eliminates trouble for your company.
Do not generally waste your time, or resources, sending out important email marketing around major holidays. Your customers will be at home enjoying their day, so it’s unlikely they’ll be interested in reading your email. Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, Black Friday or other occasion-specific specials may warrant an email sent on a holiday.
If you use images in your email newsletters, put text to the right of the images. Research shows that customers are far more likely to click on a link or button that is placed to the left of an image than one that is placed anywhere else on the page.
Give your marketing emails the same consideration that you give your site content and other marketing materials. Too often businesses take a too-casual approach to their email marketing efforts, and seemingly small errors like typos end up undermining their readers’ perception of their level of professionalism. Before you add an email to your marketing rotation, ask yourself if it would inspire you to buy.
Design your marketing emails to be easily read on mobile devices, in addition to computers. An increasing number of people check their email messages using their cell phones. If the message is difficult to read on their phone, it is likely to be deleted without the content ever being read.
Try customizing your messages for your email recipients. Try including their name in the email so that it feels more warm and personal. This can help build better relationships with your customers, and they may be more inclined to read what you have to say in these personalized email messages.
Include calls to action when creating emails. Don’t leave anyone guessing about how you want them to respond. Tell them clearly. If the customer needs to follow a link to complete the offer, clearly label the link and tell customers where it leads right in the email. You can even repeat these sections in both ends of your message, the top and the bottom.
Running a great email marketing campaign can seem like a daunting prospect, but do not let your fears prevent you from getting started. As you have seen, it does not have to be a onerous chore. If you remember the advice you have read in the preceding article, you should be able to put together a highly effective campaign.
